In 2016, the Labour Party-dominated Greater Wellington Regional Council privatised the region's commuter rail service, to save $NZ100 million over 15 years at the expense of jobs, wages and conditions.

Allegations that the National Party failed to disclose a donation from a Chinese businessman have sparked calls for a crackdown on “Chinese influence” from supporters of closer alignment with US imperialism.

The meetings in December will enable workers, youth and professionals opposed to social inequality, authoritarianism and war to discuss the critical political lessons drawn by the Trotskyist movement during eight decades of struggle.

Participants discussed the need for health workers to rebel against the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, build rank-and-file committees and unite with workers internationally, based on a socialist perspective.

In the lead-up to today’s nationwide strike by health workers, the administrators of “New Zealand, please hear our voice” deleted WSWS articles and many comments criticising the union’s attempt to shut down the movement.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation has cancelled one of two scheduled strikes and is seeking to impose a sell-out deal, virtually identical to that rejected by nurses and other health workers last month.